History of the Jay Estate

Residents of the Jay Estate - Timeline

Explore the history of this land – including and beyond its owners – to recognize the imprint of enslaved people, servants and land stewards, visitors, neighbors and friends. Follow this page as we fill it with the stories of many people- not only John Jay and his family – but also Hannah, Mary and Clarinda, James F. Brown, Caesar Valentine, Giles and Elizabeth Green, John Foshay, Thomas Haviland, Samuel F.B. Morse, James Fenimore Cooper, Timothy Dwight, William P. Chapman, James Talcott, John E. Parsons, Junius Spencer Morgan, Edith Parsons Morgan, Henry Ives Cobb, John Connor, Harvey E. Thomas and more.

(Photo of Striving for Freedom with actors Christa Victoria and Joy Kelly)

The Jay Family (1745-1904)

Native New Yorkers with Roots in Rye

John Jay, one of our nation’s greatest Founding Fathers, a peacemaker, jurist and chief negotiator of the Treaty of Paris grew up in Rye, New York.

Throughout his career, John Jay’s Rye home was a refuge from public life. After working with Franklin and Adams to negotiate the treaty that ended the Revolutionary War, he returned to Rye to celebrate with friends and family. His wife Sarah van Brugh Livingston who had accompanied him to Europe was also glad to return home. Today, you can stand where they stood and look out at the same view they saw when they imagined new horizons for the American people.

Two Generations of Princeton and Sailing Pedigree

Respectful of the rich Livingston and New York Yacht Club history of the site, philanthropist Edgar Palmer and his wife Zilph Hayes purchase the Jay Estate and the property remains in their family for over half a century.